Garbage vocalist Shirley Manson has publicly apologized to former Spice Girls member Mel C for her earlier criticisms of the iconic girl group.
During an appearance on the July 6 episode of The Louis Theroux Podcast, the host played critical comments from music figures about the Spice Girls, including Radiohead’s Thom Yorke describing the pop group as “the Antichrist,” which elicited a playful gasp from Mel C, who responded, “that’s a bit strong, isn’t it? I love Radiohead.” Theroux then read Manson’s harsh words: “I want them tarred and feathered. My wish is for the complete and utter destruction of the Spice Girls,” prompting Mel C to simply reply, “Wow.” Reflecting on the backlash against the group, Mel C noted, “We were probably everything they hated. Because we were the most commercial band, probably ever. We had this shiny pop music… literally, it wasn’t their taste.”
Manson’s critique, originally voiced in the late 1990s and reiterated in a 2016 Vice interview, called the Spice Girls’ feminist message a “sham” and described their success as “abhorrent.”
Mel C’s measured response, shared by the podcast’s Instagram account, moved Manson to apologize in the comments. “My name is Shirley Manson, and I feel terrible about what I said,” she wrote. “I believed the band was entirely manufactured, which in many ways they were, but I totally misjudged what the Spice Girls did for an entire generation of very young girls. I realize now that my words were reckless and cruel, and I wish I could take them back, but I can’t. That’s life, I suppose. I learned an invaluable lesson I’ve never forgotten. Empowerment comes in many forms. I was an idiot, and history has her last laugh at my expense.”
Mel C graciously accepted the apology, writing, “Shirley I adore you, always have. No hard feelings at all. It was the 90s—we were young, I mean I offered to fight Liam Gallagher at the Brits!”
Manson, who recently co-headlined a tour with Skunk Anansie, praised their frontwoman Skin as “a national treasure, remarkably humble and ridiculously talented, tenacious and with remarkable endurance,” during a March interview with NME.
Regarding a potential reunion, Spice Girl Victoria Beckham hinted in May that the group might explore an Abba Voyage-style hologram performance.
